Henry C. Rowland

“ The wind seemed to gain in weight as we drew in toward the land, and astern of us the mammoth surges were crumbling dangerously.
Sam Lung came aft and stood for a moment by the rail, clinging to one of the main backstay runners and staring alternately ahead, astern, then at Silverside, whose big bony hands were wrapped about the spokes of the wheel, the long fingers gripping like the tentacles of an octopus. ”

“ As I stretched myself out in the lower bunk I was conscious again of that indefinable sense of familiarity with my surroundings which I have already mentioned. An air of “wontedness” seemed to pervade the place; a strange thing considering our position on a craft which was little better than a pirate, and at the mercy of a drunken ruffian and his cannibal crew. Beside the eight or so hands required to handle the vessel Cullom had a gang of native divers, eight or ten I judged, for he had said at dinner that he found them cheaper and just as efficient as trained men in diving armour. ”

“ The after fragment of the yawl to which we clung had ceased its aimless twisting and turning, and presently seemed to come to rest in still water. The ripples washed past as though we were at anchor.
“We've stopped moving,” I called to Silverside.
“Yes,” he answered; “something is holding us. A bight of iron shroud, perhaps, caught around a mass of coral. Did you ever see so many sharks? The water is alive with them.” ”

“ Cullom, his crafty, vulpine face full of a false gratitude and friendship, his shifty eyes already on the Christian Faith, and his animal cunning at work on a plan for altering her in a way to defy recognition. He had several objects in view, had Cullom. Revenge upon the man who had so nearly got him a life sentence; the brig and all inside her; the establishing of a bond with the cannibals which might accrue to his profit in the matter of trade; and the furnishing of crew and divers to work the pearl fisheries. He ran no risk himself. ”

“ Flat on the deck by the quarter bitts, with the spray cascading over my head, I looked at Silverside. Shoulder to shoulder with the man who had just tortured him he strained at the wheel with all of his great strength, teeth bared, gaunt forearms bulging, and through the opening of his dripping coat I could see the livid lines across the white skin of his chest. ”

“ Even when I had thought that she was a boy I had been strongly attracted to Delphine, but now this feeling became of a sudden a strong, protective force. I no longer felt afraid of Cullom and his cannibal crew. It was for me to stand between the girl and any possible harm. I rose to my feet, and, stepping to her side, dropped my hand on her shoulder.
“Don't be afraid,” said I. “The man is a brute and a bully, but he is a coward, too. Even aboard this vessel, with his gang of head hunters around him, he's afraid of Silverside. ”

“ We shot the canoe in on to the beach, the cluster of savages about the whaleboat watching us apathetically. They were of the true Melanesian type—black, negroid of build, with dome-shaped heads and features grotesquely disfigured. One could scarcely have found a less prepossessing group, and as I looked at them it occurred to me that here was the sort of human hyena at the hands of which my father had met his fate. I was conscious of a bristling along the spine as I looked at the black, squatting figures, and my grip tightened involuntarily on the paddle. ”

“ Down we roared, and it looked as though the reef were rushing seaward to devour us. We drove into a maelstrom of sucking whirlpools and broad, bland eddies such as one sees on the top of a cauldron. The spray flew clear to the truck, lashed across the deck, and smote the straining sails with cannoning reports. The heavy yawl shuddered as the deep, crazy currents gripped adversely at her keel as though to wrench her hull apart. ”

“ Shortly after dark it began to blow with gradually increasing force, the wind so straight over the taffrail that a main boom tackle was rigged to keep the heavy spar from jibbing.
“This is a good thing for you,” said I to Silverside. “The yawl is a dull sailer and needs a gale to move her. With this breeze astern she ought to start off a little.”
“It will not make much difference,” said Silverside. “Her bottom is foul, and she can only get up to a certain speed. See here, Dr. Ames; don't you think that you might say a word in my favour to Sam Lung?” ”

“ I turned to the Kanaka behind me. “Take me to the bungalow,” I said, in the dialect which was almost my mother tongue, and which I had never forgot. “I am the son of Misi Ames, of the Paumotas, and I have business with your master, Gaston Berdou. This child annoys me with his chatter. Do as I say.”
The two Kanakas exchanged a swift glance. Jean, his face furious, half-raised himself, gripping the paddle. I leaned forward and wrenched it out of his hand.
“Go to the shore ... to the bungalow ...” I roared at the men behind me. “I have had enough of foolery. I wish to eat and sleep.” ”

“ But just as a hare by its shrieking excites a dog, Silverside's panic seemed to rouse some unregenerate passion in the Oriental. His face darkened, his eyes began to glitter and his thin lips set in a cruel line, while the muscles of his jaw bulged ominously.
“Von Bulow say one piecey islan' seben-day sail,” he croaked. “We got fai' wind allee time.”
Silverside found his voice with an effort.
“We come slow,” he answered, weakly. “S'ppose coolie man no steer straight? Yawl go this way....” And he made a zigzag motion with his hand.
Sam Lung scowled. ”

“ The savagery of Cullom's mood seemed to abate on coming aboard. In fact, the knowledge that he had Silverside to reckon with seemed to have sobered him. Following us into the cabin he went to a locker and got out a bottle of whiskey and some glasses, which he set on the cabin table,
“A bad business, Misther Douglas,” said he, mildly enough, and shaking his shaggy head. “Ye will obsairve, both o' ye, that I acted in self-defence. Take a drop wuskey, man; you look as if ye needed it. And give some to the lad ... though wuskey is not good for boys....” ”

“ Delphine Fairfax ... I might have known. A young girl and in the hands of the worst scoundrel in the Pacific. And did Cullom know ... had he guessed? Of course. Any ordinary fool could not have helped but guess. I thought of the leering stares ... the dog-toothed grins.
“Delphine Fairfax ...” I repeated. “And Gaston Berdou ... your brother ... what was he thinking of to leave you here alone?”
Delphine raised her pale, tear-stained face.
“Somebody had to stay. There is a fortune in that heap that is rotting out, down the beach. And she had to go to meet Silverside.” ”

“ I met him on the beach to-day, and he asked me, with a sort of impudent sarcasm, if I would let byegones be byegones and give him a passage to Bougainville, where we are bound from here. Personally, I would rather sail with a crew of lepers than with this wretch, but he told me that his life would not be safe with his yawl on the beach, that she was an old and mouldy vessel, and that he dared not put to sea in her. ”

“ To me it was merely that, for some reason best known to themselves, the sharks did not want Silverside. There is much that is subtle and that we do not understand in the attitude of lower animals toward the human race. I once knew a man who could not enter a menagerie without producing a riot amongst the big carnivora, while I myself have always been able to walk up to the most savage chained dog and pull its ears. So far as the sharks were concerned Silverside was taboo, and that seemed all there was about it. ”

“ But he seemed to recover himself, and stood glaring from Jean to me, the smoking revolver hanging in his grip.
“Now, here's a way o' treatin' peaceful folk,” he snarled. “Who is this ye've got, back there in the bush? Answer me quick, Master Berdou. And you ...” He turned on me. “What do ye here in drippin' rags and the face of a drowned dog?” His face was blotchy and congested, and his small blue eyes beginning to dance like those of a boar about to charge. “Who is that skulkin' in the bush, firin' on strangers and honest men?”
“Silverside,” I answered.
“What say ye? Silverside....” ”

“ Landing at the nearest point it would be but a short walk across to the lagoon. Silverside pointed this out to me as he prepared to swim.
Perhaps I may be able to find a boat or a canoe and come after you, doctor,” said he; and I noticed that his voice had regained its soft, purring inflection. “I would not advise you to try to swim. Sharks are not, as a rule, dangerous to anybody, but when they are in great numbers, as here, and of this particular variety, it would be unsafe for you to take the chance.” ”

“ As for Silverside, the best thing to be said for him was that he had undoubtedly acted with no thought to his own profit, but solely in the interests of Therese Fairfax. The man's devotion to the woman had become a fixed idea—an obsession. I did not believe that he was quite sane.
At any rate, Von Bulow had him in the toils, and I wondered what would become of Silverside after he had piloted the yawl to the pearl island. It seemed probable that Sam Lung would return him to the comprador, who might very likely, being content to have found the pearls, let him go about his business. ”

“ God knows he hasn't spared me, though I got kidnapped by Sam Lung trying to rescue him.” And in a few words I told Jean the story. He listened with his cheek in his hand.
“My brother owes everything to Silverside,” he said.
“Your sister owes still more,” I answered. “But for my part I loathe the man. He is a monomaniac.”
“What is that?”
“A person with but a single idea. Outside of his devotion to Therese Fairfax he is scarcely human. He goes about getting his ends with no thought of mercy or conscience or compassion. He strangled Daniel Fairfax with his own hands when the man was dying...” ”

“ Ames,” said he. “Your spirit has never been broken by the knout ... and a living death in the mercury mines. Once I might have faced Sam Lung ... but that was long ago. I am a broken man. Physical torture is my nightmare. At times I have had to saturate myself with opium to sleep....”
A fit of shuddering seized him, and observing that it only excited him to discuss the subject I began to talk of other things. Silverside told me tales of Daniel Fairfax's treatment of his wife which gave me, I must admit, a rather different feeling about the murder. Of this Silverside spoke but once. ”

“ The chances are it was a put up game to rob the casino. The man is no better than a pirate, lacking only the pirate's courage. He will not try to play us any tricks.”
“I wish we could get ashore,” said Delphine.
“With Cullom's black gang loose on the island you are better off here,” I answered. “Cullom is a greedy swine, and now that he knows that you are to inherit a big fortune he will probably try to make a bargain to land you in a place of safety for a good round sum. You see, you are practically held for ransom. But first he wants to lay hands on Silverside and have a go at the pearls. ”

“ The bo's'un had a turn of the mainsheet on the bitts, and at Sam Lung's motion I saw the sheet rope steam as he let it run. Forward the coolies had led the forestaysail sheet outside the weather shrouds, and were hauling the sail aback with what feeble strength was in them. Sam Lung and Silverside were clawing at the wheel, jamming the helm hard up; and the yawl, her mizzen volleying free, was swinging on her heel to head for the opening in the second reef, which was, if anything, a more appalling portal than the first. ”

“ Silverside went away, and mother brought the schooner here. She had been taught how to navigate by Daniel Fairfax, and Keowa Harry was mate.”
“Keowa Harry,” I cried, for I remembered the Kanaka boy as my father's right hand man. It was big Keowa Harry who had taught me to swim and fish and handle a canoe and many other island accomplishments.
“Yes,” said Delphine. “Silverside got him. All the rest of the crew are Kanakas also, and very good men. We built this bungalow, and got the pearl oysters with diving armour. ”

“ Now that they have got me, what do you think that they propose to do with me?”
“I do not think that you are in any danger until Sam Lung has satisfied himself that the lagoon is really rich in pearls,” said Silverside.
“And after that?”
“After that you will be in very great danger. Sam Lung may decide that the easiest way would be to cut our throats and give us to the sharks.”
“That's a pleasant outlook,” said I, and glanced forward. “How many are there in the crew?”
“Ten, all told ... and every man jack of them carries a long knife in his belt. It is useless to think of resistance.” ”

“ Delphine stared at me curiously for a few moments.
“I am very tired, too,” said she. “I am going to bed. I shall sleep in the top bunk. You may sleep underneath.” She gave me a steady look from her clear, grey eyes. “I feel safer when you are near me. We will shut the door and lock it,” said she.
I nodded, then said gently:
“You have been through an ordeal that would give most girls nervous prostration, and it is going to be still harder, in a way. Cullom is an awful brute, but I don't think that he will dare to bother you in any way. He's after the pearls ... and Silverside. ”

“ It was getting dark, and Cullom paused with his head and shoulders above the hatch to bawl forward, as I guessed, to tell the cabin boy to light up. We could not see his face when he came down, and for several moments he stood puffing and snarling as if to himself.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“Hell's wrong ...” he growled. “That de'il Silverside. I sent a boat ashore to see was there aught to eat or drink. The bungalow was locked, and no sooner had they set foot on the threshold than there cam' twa shots fra' the bush, and here was a couple o' my best hands gone to glory.” ”

“ His arm seemed to grow longer and longer until it had reached the length of a boat-hook. It fastened on my wrist and drew me up and on to the deck, where I sank down weak and nerveless.
“Don't be afraid, sonny,” said my father; “I will give you a charm to hang around your neck so that no shark will ever dare to come near you.” He led me below, and gave me a great pearl strung on a thread of black silk. “Now go to your berth and rest,” said he, “but be careful that nobody gets the charm.” ”